This paper presents an overview of 15 years of international study designed to determine the nature of motivational beliefs, values and goals held by students from different cultural groups, the comparability of these beliefs, values, and goals with those promoted by classrooms and schools, and the impact individual, cultural/social, peer, family, class and school influences have on student motivation, achievement, and school retention. The work has been disseminated over the years through a number of scholarly journals in the United States and Australia. Participants have included: (1) 496 Australian Aboriginal students; (2) 1,173 Anglo Australian students; (3) 487 immigrant-background Australian students; (4) 919 Navajo students; (5) 141 Arabic-background Australian students; (6) 198 Betsiamite Canadian Indian students; (7) 1,078 Anglo American students; and (8) 80 Yavapai Indian students. A major finding is that the motivational profiles of these diverse cultural groups are strikingly similar. A narrow range of achievement goals and a sense of self appear important in explaining school achievement on educational criteria. The role of school socialization in explaining this similarity is explored as the subject of planned research. (Contains 57 references.) (SLD)